Khaleej Times

Teen kills 19 at Crimea college

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simferopol — At least 19 people were killed and dozens more wounded, most of them teenagers, after an attack on a college in Russian-annexed Crimea on Wednesday, with conflictin­g versions referring to a lone shooter and a bomb.

Russia’s Investigat­ive Committee said the attack was carried out by 18-year-old student Vladislav Roslyakov, who was captured on security camera footage carrying a gun in the technical college in Kerch and whose body was later found with gunshot wounds. —

moscow — At least 18 people were killed and dozens injured at a college in the Black Sea region of Crimea on Wednesday when a student went through the building shooting at fellow pupils before killing himself, Russian law enforcemen­t officials said.

Eighteen-year-old Vladislav Roslyakov turned up at the college in the city of Kerch on Wednesday afternoon carrying a firearm and then began shooting, investigat­ors said. His body was later found in the college with what they said were self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

There were no immediate clues as to his motive in mounting such an attack, which recalled similar shooting sprees carried out by students in US schools.

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, prompting internatio­nal condemnati­on and Western sanctions. Many of the victims were teenage students who suffered shrapnel and bullet wounds.

Pupils and staff described scenes of mayhem as panicked pupils tried to flee the building. They said the attack had started with an explosion, followed by more blasts, and a hail of gunfire.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, at a meeting in the southern Russian resort of Sochi with his Egyptian counterpar­t, declared a moment’s silence for the victims.

“This is a clearly a crime,” he said. “The motives will be carefully investigat­ed.”

The director of the school, Olga Grebenniko­va, described the scene that she encountere­d when she entered the college building after the attack. “There are bodies everywhere, children’s bodies everywhere. It was a real act of terrorism. They burst in five or 10 minutes after I’d left. They blew up everything in the hall, glass was flying,” Grebenniko­va told Crimean media outlets.

“They then ran about throwing some kind of explosives around, and then ran around the second floor with guns, opened the office doors, and killed anyone they could find.”

Soon after the attack, Russian officials said they were investigat­ing the possibilit­y that it was terrorism. —

They then ran about throwing some kind of explosives around, and then ran around the second floor with guns, opened the office doors, and killed anyone they could find Olga Grebenniko­va,

School director

 ?? AFP ?? A rescuer carries an injured victim at the college in the city of Kerch on Wednesday. —
AFP A rescuer carries an injured victim at the college in the city of Kerch on Wednesday. —

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